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Originally Posted by Coonskinner
What a deal...I personally believe it is possible to acknowledge a woman's beauty without lusting after her. Good grief.
Having said that, however, there is no excuse for the way some young girls, in pentecost and out, are dressing.
I have to wonder what in the world their mothers are thinking by allowing them to go out of the house the way they do.
I almost hate to see summer coming because of the parade of flesh that it brings.
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Most of us will agree that the Pharisees were Godly men, at least from observation of their strict adherence to the Law. Even in their times the Jews were able to recognize the hypocrisy that often times accompanies the Pahrisee's pious attempts at religious perfection. I find it interesting the Talmud's distinction of the seven different types of Pharisees and wonder if we can recognize oursleves in any one of the types or bits and pieces of several of the types it lists:
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1. The Shoulder Pharisee - meticulously follows the law but wears his/her good deeds on their should for all the world to see.
2. The Wait-a-little Pharisee - those who offer vaild excuses for not doing the good deeds they know to do. A person who speaks great things but does not act on them.
3. The Bruised or Bleeding Pharisee - the one so intent on avoiding evil or temptaion that they close their eyes and run into things - displaying obvious bruises to prove their piety.
4. The Hump-backed or Tumbling Pharisee - Those so determined to look humble that they are completely bent over, shuffle their feet, and often trip over obstacles.
5. The Ever-Reckoning or Compounding Pharisee - Those forever counting up their good deeds in the belief that each one puts God further in him/her debt.
6. The Timid or Fearing Pharisee - Those always in dread of divine punishment, continually cleansing the outside of the cup and platter with the intent to escape God's wrath, and then lastly...
7. The God-Fearing Pharisee - defined by the Jews themselves as ones who truly love God. This Pharisee found pleasure rather than drudgery in obeying God's Law no matter how difficult it might be.
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I find myself in almost all categories at on time or another in my life. Jesus was not so kind as he denounced the Pharisees and their pious attempts at self-induced
holiness. Jesus ripped of the facade of the Pharisees religiosity, and called the Pharisees
"whitewashed tombs...full of dead men's bones" [Matthew 23-27].
Whitewashed tombs were common in Jesus' day, especially during the Passover or other religious festivals. Graves were painted white so nobody would trip over them and become unclean and unfit to worship. These tombs looked beautiful on the outside but inside were filled with dead, rotting things and everything unclean. Jesus himself advise us to ignore the outside because what is on the inside is what really counts.
The Whitewashed Tomb Syndrome -is defined as the dangerous belief that we can somehow make ourselves presentable to God through our own human effort. Not only are such efforts pointless, and fruitless...but they are not necessary...
How many times are we caught up in the outer manifestations of what we consider holiness to be only to have the outward appearnace of a tomb and inside everything is dead or dying in us.
Sincerely, Rhoni
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